Woman stole mortuary van, body from JPS hospital ambulance bay, Fort Worth police say
A dead person was on Tuesday night taken on a circuitous journey after leaving a Fort Worth hospital when a woman stole the van in which the corpse was being transported, police said.
An employee of a mortuary service arrived in a van at John Peter Smith Hospital to retrieve a body. The driver parked the van, in which there already was a body, in the ambulance bay and went into the hospital.
About 7 p.m., while the driver was inside the building, Valerie Traglor-Ellis got into the van and drove off, Fort Worth police said.
Traglor-Ellis steered the van and body to the Fort Worth Zoo, in the 2600 block of Park Place Avenue, where she left the vehicle, police said.
Officers found Traglor-Ellis, 35, a short time later and took her into custody on suspicion of auto theft and abuse of corpse.
The van and body were released to the mortuary service driver.
This story was originally published June 12, 2024 at 2:47 PM.
